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Sunday Salon: Sitting With A Simple Scone…

and a cup of coffee as my husband prepares for church. I am simply too tired this morning, to stand as a greeter in the main door facing the crush of people and loud music emanating from the sanctuary. I need a Sabbath in every sense of the word; namely a day of rest.

There was a minor catastrophe with technology earlier this week as I tried to clean up my Google+ account. Ever looking for Organization, I thought I would just discard whole albums of pictures which seemed to be cluttering up my space. When I opened my blog a day later, all that sat where a picture should be was a gray rectangle.

“Fine,” I thought, “I’ll just give up blogging altogether. I’m sick of these template changes, platform changes, picture disappearances (all brought about from my own quest for Perfection) and this is it, I’m done.” But, my husband reminded me that Google backs up everything, and sure enough, there they were when I dug them out of the proverbial trash. So, I’ll carry on as usual. With my familiar reclining lady and no more changes.

October 18 brings us Dewey’s Read-a-thon…I cannot wait for that. Perhaps in one long weekend I can help make up for the lack of reading time I’ve enjoyed this September.

And, November brings us German Lit Month hosted by Lizzy and Caroline. Stu mentioned finding books by Joseph Roth in his local library, but clearly I need to move to his town; we have nothing but a plethora of American authors in our library. Perhaps the library has a volume by Thomas Mann I can dust off, but what I’m really looking forward to reading is Stefan Zweig’s Letter From an Unknown Womansent to me a few months ago by Pushkin Press. Have you any other suggestions for a German author you enjoy?

Soon I will post about an American book in the short list for the Man Booker Prize. It has given me quite a lot to think about, and I’m anxious to discuss it with you. Until then, may your reading be rich and your days of autumn golden.

22 thoughts on “Sunday Salon: Sitting With A Simple Scone…”

I have often thought about deleting photos over cover art for long-ago posted blog entries, but then I remember that when I did that once before, the image disappeared from that post. Thank goodness for backups, right?

I have a long, long list of things I need (or should) accomplish today, but I’d really rather sit on the porch with my current book (A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute). Maybe I can find a compromise and do what simply must be done today and let the rest go for another day or two.

I hope you have a restful day, Meredith! Looks like it’s going to be just as warm there as it is here.

Those darn long long lists! You ignore them, and they would have been easier to face than the constant torment of lying undone; you do them, and a lovely day is half gone. I vote for us to sit on the porch and read.

So glad you suggested Heinrich Boll, and later on two others suggested more authors. These comments are most helpful to me, as it am virtually unaware of German authors short of Thomas Mann and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And those two guys aren’t even vaguely similar!

Nah, I make scones all the time…practically every weekend, so they are easy to photograph without partaking. Wish I could send you some, friend, but by the time they arrived in Indiana you would say, “I got a rock.”

I hope you read this on Monday, or Tuesday even, Belleza. We all need a day of rest. PS. When in doubt, do no delete. I can relate as something similar happened to me: I thought I’d lost years of photos … I think my heart stopped a moment.

For sure, “when in doubt do not delete.” In fact, for me the rule might say, “Never delete!” I did the exact thing to a series of photographs my mother and I were editing. Somehow, in “transferring” them to a new folder they disappeared. At least with Google+ they were retrievable.

Elaine, I have a book by Herta Mueller, The Hunger Angel, but somehow I thought she was Romanian. I’ll look into it again. Thank you for your suggestion of her and Judith Hermann (of whom I have not heard).

Here some good books by German writers. Bernhard Schlink, The Reader. i also have one called The Homecoming, which I have not yet read. Someone mentioned The Dinner by Herman Koch. Hans Fallada, Alone in Berlin. Not to mention the classic All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. An excellent book which still feels modern. I read a new translation. Good Luck.
Lisbeth @ The Content Reader

The Dinner by Herman Koch was an excellent read, even better than his latest book Summer House With Swimming Pool. The only thing is, I believe he’s Dutch. I am intrigued with your suggestion of All Quiet on The Western Front, which I believe I read years ago in high school. The classics are always that way to me, such as you described, “an excellent book which still feels modern.” Thanks for your visit and comment.

I don’t know if I’m supposed to notice the china, but I love it. Evesham? If I hadn’t started collecting my Portmeiron I would have started collected those. Happy autumn, B, and please save a scone for me?

I have never read anything by Zweig before, which is part of the reason I love challenges so much: they always get me out of my ordinary ruts. I agree with you about how hard it is to get translated work, of his or many others; we practically have to ask the publishers for an edition!

Thanks for mentioning GLM and for participating. Sorry to hear your libraray doesn’t really own a lot of German literature in translation.
We host giveaways. Who knows you might win someting you’d like to read?

Oh, winning something would be fun! I’ve decided on the Stefan Zweig, and last night I put a book by Thomas Mann on hold: The Black Swan. Supposedly it’s about an aging woman, which suits me just fine right now. 😉

Meredith, I’m itching to find out which Man Booker book you will be posting about. I love your china set! And that scone looks delicious – yum! I can definitely understand getting frustrated and wanting to quit blogging during such times, but I’m so happy that you didn’t 🙂 We all have those moments – I know, I do. Sounds like you have some great reads coming up – I’m looking forward to hearing about them all. I hope you have a wonderful week! Cheers!